Recently I had taken a hiatus from using my HG gel, LA Looks Sport. I had simply been using a dab of my CO wash (V05 Kiwi Lime) in place of gel or other styling products. My hair felt soft and had sufficient volume, but there was very little curl formation, with more frizz and less shine than I like.
(No fault of the V05 - I get those same results whenever I don't use gel or a styling product.)

Having grown tired of blah hair days, a few days ago I decided to re-introduce LA Looks sport gel to my hair ~ and I had an *amazing* hair day ~ beautiful, soft, shiny, frizz-free curls & volume.
The following two days, I did the exact same routine, using the same products and techniques
; however, my hair has felt dry and a little lifeless, not the way it looked on my first day back with LALSG.
What gives? Is it the protein in the gel? Any input/ideas/theories/advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think I'm having the same issues. I've been using LALSG for months now, and I've had to SOTC with some VO5 clarifying condish to help with frizz. But then again the dew points where I live are always under 40, very dry, and the glycerin in it may be drying because of that. I'm considering getting a glycerin free curl cream as a styler instead of a gel, like SheaM curl milk.

I wonder if it might be the protein. When I use a protein free gel - my Aussie Instant Freeze - my hair is not as dry as when I use gels with protein. I have LALSG and Hugo Naturals. The Hugo gel in particular dries me out and it has more protein than LALSG, but LALSG dries me out too.